Connie: I began quilting in 1976, but the nearest store was two hours away in Minneapolis. Mary and I were introduced through a mutual friend, and we started thinking we could write better patterns then what could be found in the store. At the time I was sewing for a gift shop and Mary was giving piano lessons. In 1983 we decided to try making our own patterns. Someone told us we needed to prepare for success, and that no one would take us seriously with just one pattern, so we made four.

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Mary: We each had $300 saved up, and that's what we started with. In the beginning we did everything ourselves. Connie handwrote the patterns and we folded them. One of our first orders was for 15 dozen patterns. That was a lot of folding! But we couldn't have done this without each other. Having a partner is so important. We also didn't overthink things. If we had researched it too much, we may never have done it.

Connie: In 1987 we decided to open our quilt shop. And we do quilting camps several times a year where women can come and work on their quilts. You can't undo a quilt at the end of the day. Once you get a quilt made, it's done. You have something to show for your time and energy and creativity.

Mary: We're in a rural area, so we can be hard to find, but we've been lucky. We've been featured in a lot of books, which brings customers to us. We also have a quarterly newsletter. When something's a good thing, it's hard to keep it a secret.